AES E-Library

AES E-Library

XY and MS Microphone Techniques in Comparison

XY and MS microphone techniques can be considered theoretically equivalent, i.e. both signal formats can be transformed into each other, assuming ideal microphone characteristics. In practice, however, specific differences may arise between the two systems. The theoretical relationship will be derived with regard to first-order directional microphones, and the individual properties of both techniques will be described in detail. Furthermore, it will be shown that the MS technique is less prone to the imperfections of real microphones than the XY technique.